Doing Theology

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“This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Theology can be defined simply as thinking about God. But theology is not a merely intellectual endeavor; theology is more deeply relational, spiritual, and is perhaps better defined as knowing God. We don’t just know information about God; we know God personally, as he truly is, as he has revealed himself. We don’t just think remote thoughts of God; we think toward him, prayerfully. In his prayer, Jesus defines eternal life in these terms. Eternal life is—essentially—relational knowledge of the Triune God. So, “doing theology” and enjoying eternal life really should be the same thing.

“Eternal life as theology” makes sense precisely because God is Triune. Eternity itself is characterized by the mutual, delighted knowledge of Father and Son in the Spirit. The very Being of God (which is the foundation for all reality!) is the blessed communion of Persons. We are made in God’s image, which means our humanity is meant for the same kind of spiritual knowing. This is the promise of salvation itself.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Many people—including many Christians—think that it’s impossible truly to know God as he is in himself. But, again, it is of the essence of the Triune God to know and to be known. Before everything, in himself, he is the God of mutual knowing. In fact, the real wonder seems to be that we could possibly not know this God! We, who were made in God’s image for mutual knowing! Truly, the cosmos broke when we “knowers” refused to know the Known One. Nevertheless, God will be known, and in time he has truly made himself known for relationship through Jesus Christ.

“We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.” (1 John 5:20)

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:6-10)

To be a Christian means to confess that we do believe that the Son (Jesus) is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. To be a Christian means to believe in the perichoretic union (mutual indwelling) of the Triune God who makes himself known to us in Christ. It means trusting that we actually can know the One who has made us and redeemed us for this very purpose. In fact, being a Christian means knowing this God with his own knowledge of himself, even as the Son knows the Father in his own Spirit and truth.

This is practical. Thinking that theology—one’s relationship with God—is not innately practical, that it must somehow be made practical, is itself bad theology. We are, of course, prone to do theology badly. (You do theology, whether you’ve thought explicitly about it much or not.) So we need to do theology Christianly. We need to get to know this God in Christ better, so that we can better live with reference to him at all times. We need to turn to God’s revelation prayerfully; theology is thinking toward God in the Spirit. We need to do theology corporately; theology is relational, and should be done in community with those who know God (the church). And we need to do theology doxologically; if your theology doesn’t often erupt into delighted praise, something’s off.

Does your “working definition” of Christianity include knowing God, and Jesus whom he sent? Do you conceive of theology as merely an academic, remote, abstract, perhaps even irrelevant exercise? What do you think about theology as proposed here, as the relational knowledge of God that is of the essence of eternal life, as being caught up into God’s relational knowledge of himself? How does this understanding of eternal life differ from other common understandings of eternal life? Why might it be important to embrace this understanding of theology? What difference does this understanding of theology make for church ministry or evangelism? Do you have any thoughts about doing theology prayerfully, corporately, or doxologically? Do you believe that God can be truly known by people? If so, how, to what degree, and why do you believe this? What does it matter that the God whose very Being is Persons in mutual knowledge is himself the Creator, the One who is behind all reality? How is this understanding of theology “practical,” Biblically speaking? What areas of theology are most interesting to you? What areas of theology are most difficult for you?

(Originally posted Nov. 16, 2015. Edited Aug. 31, 2021.)

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

If you ask any Christian, in any church, in any place, at any point in history, “What is your mission in life?”—this should be the obvious answer. Jesus has commissioned us, given us a mission. He has called us to participate in his own mission in the world. “Mission” comes from the Latin for “sending.” In John’s version of the Great Commission, the risen Lord Jesus says to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). Jesus is the Sent One, the Great Missionary, who commissions his people to be sent like he is.

This sending, this mission arises from God’s very nature, from his Triune being. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). His being is love. “The statements ‘God is’ and ‘God loves’ are synonymous” (Karl Barth). In his eternal life, there is no self-centeredness. “His love is eternal” (Psalm 136), because it is who the eternal God is, it is how he has his being. In himself, even before he created other people, the Triune God has always been about other People. The Father loves the Son in the Spirit, and the Son reciprocates this love in the same Spirit to the Father.

In time, God the Father sent forth God the Son in the love of God the Spirit, to be born a man: Jesus. (Really, this is the Great Commission!) God did this, not in spite of who he is, but in accordance with who he is, because of his Triune nature. Jesus is the God of love come in the flesh, come to make God known to us so that we might share in the Son’s own relationship to his Father. When Jesus brings us into the life of God (something signified and sealed to us in baptism in the Triune name), he is bringing us into a life that is not just about the self, but about other people. With this God, being brought in means being sent out. In the life of the Triune God, the consummate “insider” is outward-faced. And with this God, being sent out doesn’t mean you go alone. “I am with you always.” Jesus, the Sent One, accompanies his sent ones through the presence of his Holy Spirit.

This is why the Great Commission makes so much sense. Jesus—God—is not commanding us to do anything that he himself has not done. Jesus said, “All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). In the Great Commission, he tells us to keep it going, to make known to others everything we have heard from Jesus.

A disciple is someone in relationship with Jesus, whom Jesus has brought into the life of God. The church (the assembly of disciples) makes disciples by baptizing and teaching. When a disciple of Jesus makes another disciple of Jesus, he is just sharing the relationship that has been shared with him. He is introducing other people to Jesus, to God. The disciple wants other people to know about Jesus—who he is, where he comes from, what he’s like, what he has said and done, and what these things mean for life with God. The disciple makes others to be disciples of Jesus, not of himself. The disciple makes disciples, who will in turn make other disciples, and so on.

We are to make disciples “of all nations.” This means we do not show favoritism to people who are just like us, people of our own family, clan, tribe, or nation. The Greek word translated “nations” here, ethne, is also often translated “Gentiles.” Jesus’ original Jewish disciples were being sent out to non-Jews with the Gospel. Ethnic, cultural, social, or linguistic barriers don’t void the Great Commission, because Jesus Christ has “all authority in heaven and on earth.” You have been authorized by the Lord of all to share the Gospel with all people, to look to bring them into a relationship with Jesus, just as you have been brought in by his grace. Amen.

If someone were to ask you, “What is your mission/purpose in life?” would you respond by simply repeating the mission Jesus has given his disciples? How do you feel about the Great Commission? How would you summarize the Gospel? What are some ways you might be responding faithfully to the Great Commission? Are there times when you forget your mission? Are there times when you are afraid of telling others about Jesus? Do you have other obstacles to participating in Jesus’ mission? Does it matter to you that Jesus claims universal authority? Does it matter to you that Jesus promises his presence to those who go out into the world with his message? Does it matter to you that the church is in this mission together? Would you like help becoming a disciple who makes disciples?

 

Why should you come to church?

Jesus.

(There’s really no other good answer, but let’s expand on that just a bit…)

The Bible doesn’t really have a category for Christians who are not part of a local church. Salvation means being conducted into the community of God and his people. We are saved into eternal life together. (No one is saying that’s all chocolates and roses in this life!) Spirituality is fundamentally a reality of the Christian community, not just the individual. We don’t just need each other in order to grow spiritually as individual Christians; spiritual growth means growth together in the Spirit of Christ. Spiritual growth means relational growth. Jesus has accomplished our reconciliation in the Gospel, and eternity in his presence will mean the perfection of our relationships. “God is in the business of creating community” (J. B. Torrance). And no wonder—God is a Being in Community!

The church, then, is a central feature of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The direct result of Christ’s atoning death on the cross was the creation of this new community, the reconciling of different persons and people groups in the one body of Christ (see Paul’s “Letter to the Ephesians”). Maybe it’s strange to our ears: “Good News! Because of Jesus, there is a church!” This will sound less strange to us as we grow in our appreciation for the grace of God seen in one another in the church. “It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). There is a sense in which the “most Christian” time of the week is our time together on Sundays.

So we gather as the church to participate together in Jesus’ everlasting life, shared with us as a gift of his grace primarily through his Word and Sacraments. These are often called “the Ordinary Means of Grace,” because they have been instituted by God as the normative way by which he communicates his gracious love to us for our faith. The true preaching of the Word and the right administration of the Sacraments (sometimes joined by the proper exercise of Discipline) are known by John Calvin and many in the Protestant tradition to be the distinguishing marks of the true church. With them, according to God, you have a Christian church! Without them, you don’t. If you want the assurance of faith—that you belong to God and he belongs to you—then you need exposure to the Means of Grace. In other words, come to church for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We think it’s good that certain basic, biblical things would be obvious about the environment of our church. The God we worship (the Trinity) and the way in which we worship (through faith in Jesus Christ) must be constantly prevalent and explicit—ultimately, we want to be God-centered, Christ-centered in everything we do. Communion, community, and love are very important to us. It is loving to pursue Gospel-repentance and faith in each other, and to take the message of the Gospel out into the world seeking the repentance and faith of all peoples. We testify to the coming Kingdom by living justly, compassionately, and generously. And we believe that our commitment to one another as members in the church mirrors our very commitment to Jesus Christ.

We have our bad days, to be sure. You shouldn’t expect perfection from yourself or others. But God hasn’t given up on his church. In fact, he never will. He doesn’t engage with the church because it’s always a pleasant experience for everyone. He gives himself to us because that’s just who he is. The church will always be precious to him. It’s good for you to be a part of it!

Please feel free to use this in your personal or public Worship.

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Blessed Trinity, you dwell in the sheer delight of eternal communion. You are the Lord of joy, and you have made us and blessed us to share your joy in relationship with you. But we have sought our happiness apart from you, in the things you have made, in the works of our own hands, in anything and everything but you. Nevertheless, Lord Jesus, it was your pleasure to welcome us back into your own joy, even though it meant your death to do so. Even though we don’t deserve it, please forgive us and restore to us the joy of your salvation. Make your own joy to be our strength. Grant that our greatest delight would be in knowing you and making you known, to the glory of your Blessed Name. Amen.

Yahweh, who knows the heart, says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Deuteronomy 5:21). And Jesus says, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

This commandment proves that God is not interested in a merely external show of obedience, but that he is after our hearts. Coveting can manifest in things like fighting (James 4:2), but it can just as well remain invisible, hidden from all the world. But you cannot hide your heart from God. This commandment vindicates Jesus’ interpretation of the Law, that holiness and sin are fundamentally matters of the heart (Mark 7:20-23). God requires our love, which has to do with the deepest levels of our motives, affections, and desires.

The depths of our hearts are often hidden, even from ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9-10). But God searches these depths. He knows that we sin, and he wants us to know this about ourselves, which is why he gave us commandments like this one (Romans 7:7). He commands our wholehearted, perfect, pure, unceasing love, without even “one particle of covetousness to hinder” (John Calvin) in order to reveal to us that we are sinners in need of his mercy. Have you been dissatisfied with what God has given to you? Have you wanted more? Have you felt that, if only you could possess this one thing (whatever it is), you would finally be content? Have you envied others what God has given to them, as if you were entitled to it but they were not? Yes, of course you have, there is no doubt about it. You need God’s forgiveness, not just for the apparently evil or ungodly acts you have committed, but for the secret things going on inside your heart.

“Covetousness… is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). When you covet, your heart is attached to something, demanding something, yearning for something that you believe will fulfill you. Really, your heart is going after a God-substitute. You cannot be thankful for what you have, only resentful of what others have. You resent God for his generosity, perhaps feeling like you deserve more, and you become perfectly willing to dehumanize your neighbor and objectify others (like his wife) along the way.

Now you know something of how bad it is, but don’t stop there. Now, even more, you can know how good Jesus is. Jesus never once coveted what God had given to his neighbors. Can you imagine it? Jesus never found himself bent out of shape about what God had not given to him. Jesus was perfectly content with his Father’s providence and will, even though it led him through poverty and pain to death on the cross. Jesus was satisfied with God. Jesus never begrudged us anything, but took pity on us and gave us everything. Jesus gave us God. He gave himself up for our forgiveness, and he gives himself to us for our life with God. By his Spirit, he gives us a new heart—his own righteous heart—to live free of covetousness vicariously in him. Jesus gives us his own satisfaction with God. Thanks be to God, Jesus is enough to fulfill us forever!

Have you ever felt like, “It’s not coveting if I see what my neighbor has, want it, and just go buy one for myself”? What sorts of tangible things might you have coveted? What sorts of intangible things might you have coveted? What is the most ridiculous trinket your heart has gone after like a God-substitute? Have you ever coveted what imaginary people have? (Think of actors you’ve seen in television ads driving the car you should be driving.) Have you been upset at the thought of “that person” enjoying what you feel you deserve to enjoy? How is it a resentment of God’s generosity and a dehumanization of your neighbor to covet what belongs to him? How do you feel about the fact that your own heart deceives you about your covetousness? How do you “put to death” (Colossians 3:5) something so subterranean as covetousness? What is it like to live vicariously in Christ and therefore with his resources to live free of covetousness?

This is an audio recording (mp3) of a message delivered to a group of pastors in Portland, Oregon, on January 7, 2020:

2 Timothy 4:1-8, “Enduring in Ministry”

Yahweh, who cannot lie, says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). And James says, “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against his brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:11-12).

We tend to generalize the ninth commandment by saying, “Do not lie,” or, “Always tell the truth,” but it is more specific. It is about how you testify regarding your neighbor’s life, character, and conduct, so that you can live together in righteous peace. We can understand this in a legal context, when a witness is called upon to give testimony about what he has seen or heard in order to establish a basis of truth for a good judgment of the matter at hand. Bearing false witness means that the “witness” has already pre-judged, has already condemned the accused, and is willing to violate reality itself in order to justify himself as judge. The false witness is seeking to benefit himself in some way from the unjust judgment of another person.

The serpent inaugurated this way of injustice when he bore false witness against God in the Garden. He lied about God, he lied about what God had said, and (ironically) he judged God to be the liar. In doing so, and in drawing the human race to imitate him in setting ourselves up as judges of God’s truth, the serpent undermined the foundations for our knowing truth and justice. The only way for us to know the truth at all, to know good and evil, to live in righteous peace together, is for us to submit our judgment to the faithful witness of God’s Word.

But when God’s Word, the Faithful Witness himself, appeared in the flesh to give the true testimony about his heavenly Neighbor (God) and about his earthly neighbors (fellow humanity), we didn’t submit our judgment to him. We didn’t trust him and believe him and welcome his truth to judge us. We condemned him. We arranged for false witnesses to justify ourselves in our judgment. We violated reality. We made ourselves judges, jury, and executioners, and he wound up on the cross in the greatest injustice ever committed.

But our evil judgment didn’t stop Jesus from bearing true witness about God as the Faithful Martyr (“martyr” comes from the Greek word for “witness”). It cost him his life to give true testimony to who God is, to God’s character and intentions, and to what God has said. His martyrdom reestablished humanity’s connection to truth and justice. He submitted his judgment to God on our behalf, which is why God has made him the true Judge of all. As we entrust ourselves to him and submit our judgment to his revelation, we are granted the true knowledge of good and evil, and we will also be made to judge with righteous judgment as we become faithful witnesses and martyrs in his name.

What testimony about God has Jesus given? What testimony about humanity has Jesus given? Do you judge Jesus’ testimony (God’s Word), or do you welcome Jesus’ testimony (God’s Word) to judge you? Apart from submitting your judgment to God’s Word through faith, what hope is there that people can live in truth and justice together? In other words, can non-Christian “philosophy” provide a foundation for the knowledge of the truth (epistemology) or legal justice? Can you think of ways in which you’ve imitated the serpent and sought to benefit yourself by speaking evil of God or someone else? Can you think of ways, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, in which you’ve imitated the Faithful Martyr and borne true witness to the Gospel, even when it cost you?

Yahweh, the Giver of Every Good Gift, says, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). And Paul says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28).

When Paul sums up the commandments, he says they “are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:9-10). He quotes from Leviticus 19 where God says, “You shall not steal… but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, stealing is a failure to love, a rejection of the way of love that comes from God. So, the opposite of stealing isn’t just leaving stuff alone that doesn’t belong to you; the opposite of stealing is Gift-Love.

The Triune God is Gift-Love. He isn’t merely generous—he is essentially Giver-Gift-Given. The Father forever gives himself to the Son in the Person of the Holy Spirit, and the Son forever reciprocates this complete self-gift to the Father, again, in the same Holy Spirit. It is his very being, the way in which he exists eternally.

This God created all things to be a gift. He gave humanity the gift of life like his, the life of Gift-Love. And he gave his whole world as a lavish gift to humans. But in the Gift-Garden we were not satisfied with his divine generosity, and we turned to take what did not belong to us. We became self-centered thieves, and wrenched ourselves out of the life of Gift-Love.

When God gave his Son, Jesus, he gave the greatest and most precious gift of all. In Jesus our cosmic theft is forgiven. In Jesus our human life is caught back up into the Gift-Love life of the Trinity. Now God gives himself to us in the Person of the Holy Spirit so that we may live in the same way that he lives. So we stop taking what belongs to others. We learn again that, in spite of not deserving it at all, we are given every good gift—indeed, we are given even our very selves as recipients!—in order to reciprocate God’s Gift-Love. And we do that by serving and blessing each other with our God-given gifts.

What are some ways in which one can break the Eighth Commandment apart from blatant criminal theft, robbery, or kidnapping? In the workplace as an employee or employer? In courts of law? In consuming entertainment media? In relationships with friends? With reference to the government? How about with direct reference to God in worship (see Malachi 3:8-10)? What are some ways in which you can look to keep the Eighth Commandment? (See the Westminster Larger Catechism 141 for ideas.) Must you “sell all that you have and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21) in order to be a Christian who keeps this commandment? How do you feel about receiving and enjoying gifts with thankfulness? Assuming that you have taught your children to be generous and to share, have you done so in light of this commandment and the Gift-Love of God?

Yahweh, the Faithful One, says, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). And Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

The commandments have to do with our relationships. This commandment isn’t simply about “lust,” it is about the violation of the marital union. When Jesus talks about adultery in terms of lust, he is showing that adultery is something you can commit in your heart, whether or not it would be visibly recognizable as adultery to an external observer of your life. You can violate your marriage without anyone knowing but God. A single person commits adultery by violating someone else’s marriage, even if it’s just with a look. True, biblical, faithful love is more than the keeping up of appearances—it’s the whole, committed devotion of one’s entire being, all the way down.

Marriage was instituted by God at the creation of the world before the world was broken through human rebellion against God. God intended marriage to be a loving, faithful, monogamous, lifelong union between one man and one woman. Marriage means complete, intimate, mutual belonging (1 Corinthians 7:3-4). The marriage relationship is meant to reflect the image of God as the one whose delighted love for the other brings forth new life. There is something of God’s own creative Spirit of love in each marital union (Malachi 2:15). The marital union surpasses all other earthly relationships in importance, to the point of reordering other relationships, even those with family members (Genesis 2:24).

Marriage also reflects the relationship between God and his people, being one of the most common pictures for that relationship throughout the Scriptures. In Paul’s famous passage addressing husbands and wives in their marital union, he says, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32; see also the Song of Songs). Christ is the faithful bridegroom (Luke 5:34; John 3:29); his people have been the faithless bride (Hosea 1:2; Malachi 2:11).

With such a vision of marriage, adultery is the most severe betrayal possible in the world. It is the rejection of the most intimate love, the rejection of the Spirit of union. Not being filled by God, the adulterer says, “I will not give myself to you, my spouse, I will look to fulfill my desires apart from you, and that is more important to me than you or our relationship.” Ultimately, adultery is faithlessness to God himself, in direct opposition to the love for which we were created. Thankfully, Jesus has been the devoted bridegroom, filled with the Spirit of love, giving himself utterly to his people in order to forgive our faithlessness and renew us.

Have you experienced the joy of union with Christ? Why do you think God describes his relationship with his people in terms of a marriage? Why do you think God describes the sin of his people in terms of adultery committed against him? Have you been aware of breaking this commandment? If you are married, have you confessed your adultery to your spouse? Why or why not? What resources or strategies do you employ to try to stop breaking this commandment? How does the Bible talk about sanctification in ways that would help adulterers? Would you counsel someone who has been betrayed by an adulterous spouse to remain in the marriage? Why or why not?

Gerrit Dawson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church Baton Rouge and author of Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation (and other books), came to the meeting of the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the PCA on September 26-27, 2019. At our Thursday evening worship service he preached a sermon titled “Blessing Hands Above” from Luke 24:50-53. (Here is the sermon audio.) He also led us in a Friday morning workshop, learning from the prayer called “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” how to “bind unto myself this day” different aspects of the life of the Incarnate Savior. (Here are the notes from the workshop, here is the litany* of links to Jesus’ life that he shared with us, and here is the session audio.)

* Please feel free to use this litany in your personal or public worship. (With proper attribution if in print, of course!)

Bonus Resource: Gerrit wrote an article for the Desiring God website, “The Human on Heaven’s Throne: Why the Ascension of Christ Matters.”